THE CENTER OF THE WORLD IS......?

Needless to say, we are most likely living in what may be the most critical times in world history. I was inclined to say since the Flood, but that may admittedly be overstating it.  What is not an overstatement is that all that's going on will ultimately revolve around Israel. It's God who has made Israel central.  Did you know that ancient maps were drawn somewhat differently than ours because we see the world as round but waaaay back when flat maps only were drawn, guess what seemed to be the center of the world?  You guessed it, the area where little Israel is.  Even maps drawn even earlier than the Renaissance period were greatly distorted in their perception of the world, but Israel was often portrayed as being the center of the known world.

I bought a small globe recently after seeing it in a decorator kind of store. It just seemed to want to come home with me.  I did check it out first to make sure Israel was on there.  Be careful when you buy maps or globes, should any of you plan to do so, because with Islamic influences here and there, where Israel should be it may say Palestine. Most of you know that Rome gave the Jews the name Palestine based on the name of the Phoenicians to ridicule them, but it wasn't until Arafat got the idea to co-opt the name that they began a campaign to convince the world that Palestine was Arab. They've done a pretty good job. Most of the world thinks its legitimate.  It's not.

As the saleslady handed me my little globe in a bag, I felt the unction to take it out of the bag and show to her.  Not knowing if she is a believer or would even be remotely interested, I showed her how Australia and Indonesia could move right up into the ocean space of India and China.  And how South America could snuggle right up to the west coast of Africa with the western most part of Africa looking like it could tuck right into where Mexico is. And North America could just move right on over and wrap itself around the where Spain and England are.  This is, of course, not an exact fit but time has eroded some surfaces, and remember that there are tectonic plates under each land mass that extend out beyond what we see on the surface.  When an earthquake happens, it's the tectonic plates that are moving and what happens on the surface is the result. 

So what am I saying here?  If you look at the map or the globe this way, you can see what could very well have been one huge land mass with everything connected at one point. Speaking of the flood, however, it would seem that the Flood would be the cause of sufficient upheaval to thrust huge land masses to be displaced by the force of enormous quantities of water.  We cannot really fathom (pun intended) the depth of the waters or what force would be released as "the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth.... and the waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth.... and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth and the high hills that were under the whole heaven... and the mountains were covered" (Genesis 7:11, 12, 19, 20).

Can we even imagine the force of the rushing water as those that covered the mountains raced upon the face of the earth as "the deep" caused great upheavals and then caverns opened up, resulting in great depths of water to surge across the surface of the earth. It is quite possible that what God had once created as one giant land mass was then separated into the continents that we know today. If we look for it, we can see the way the land masses may have all can fit together.  And if  you are able to see that, making some allowanced for the tectonic plates so it may appear that the land masses aren't exact, if you take your fingers to two outside edges and bring them to the middle, guess where you will be? Yes, you got it, Israel. 

I shared an abbreviated version of all this with the saleslady who was going to share it with her Sunday School class.  You just never know where God will give you an open door to share something of interest related to Him with someone.

So considering the "place" God gave to Israel as the center of the world in this sense, assuming I have my geography right, and considering the "place" God gave to Israel in His book, the Bible, and His whole plan of redemption for the world, doesn't it seem that we can assume that Israel, being the one "place" that He declared to be His own, and Israel's people through whom He said He would prove to the world that He is the one and only God.... shouldn't we expect that God will vindicate Himself and His word?

The verses which speak of what God will do to those who come against His people Israel would be terrifying to any who would read it and take it seriously.  Evidently millions of Muslims have turned to the Lord and His goodness and away from the evil intent to destroy Israel.  I spoke with a man who has a ministry to Iran and is seeing thousands saved almost monthly through what they broadcast into Iran via satellite. He told me that when these Muslim people turn to God and are filled with the Holy Spirit, they immediately drop their hatred for Israel and God replaces it with a love for Israel and a burden to pray for her safety and salvation. Now that has to be a work of the Holy Spirit!!  And it's not something you're likely to hear on CNN. 

If you have any interest in reading incredible stories of Muslims who have come to the Lord, from a 7 year old boy whom Arafat made his own example of what a terrorist youth should be, to a man who came to America to infiltrate it culturally, to a scholar who examined the Koran against the Bible and fell in love with Jesus and then had to deal with the consequences....and many more incredible stories. get a copy of Ten Amazing Muslims Touched by God by Faisal Malick.  The most fascinating part of the book is the way Yeshua/Jesus shows up in these people's lives in such incredibly supernatural ways, often in powerful and holy manifestations as He reveals Himself as Lord.  I mean really as LORD!  The Jesus part of the book is worth the read.

Anyway, I really didn't start out to write a blog tonight. I wanted to apologize for any confusion about the Israel entry. And while I was here, I just followed what I hope is the Holy Spirit's lead and shared what is so on my heart, for people to realize that Israel is not ultimately about us, or about the Jewish people though to separate them is erroneous, it's really about God. God's Word, God's plan, God's land, God's people, God's integrity to keep His promises, God's sovereignty to fulfill His intention in the earth, and it's about God's lordship.....  on and on. There is so much false information out there being put forth as truth, but much of it, when it's against Israel in some way as what is going on right now, motivates me to try and let people be aware that Israel is the center of God's whole redemptive plan for the world. Even many Muslims are realizing it and aligning themselves with the Lord and His people. I pray Americans will also know the truth in this if/when Islamic influence increases (selah).  This is surely not the best article I've ever written, but if somehow the information in it, or just the motive in it, will inspire you to share the truth of God revealing Himself through Israel and how she is central to much of what God is doing in the earth today, you may pull some from the fires of the consequences of being politically correct with men, but in opposition to God. 

WHAT ABOUT THE ASHES?

Given God’s dislike for idolatry and false beliefs among His people, I would imagine that you would agree that before Yeshua comes, the Holy Spirit is working to prepare His bride according to Revelation 19, where she is still bearing some “wrinkles” of distorted concepts of holiness that need to be ‘ironed out’, or where there may be “spots” of worldly ungodliness – maybe a better word would be ungod-like-ness – that we must be cleansed of. A good many of these are not our fault.  We have inherited a system of beliefs that are centuries old, not all of which are what God intended.  In fact, some of them get in the way of living in the fullness of what Yeshua provided for us.  

As an example, I happened upon a group of Christians this past week who were discussing the upcoming event of Ash Wednesday which they apparently were inclined to participate in.  It is evidently the kick-off event for Lent, neither of which I am familiar with. After listening for a while I ventured to ask, “Could you please tell me the origin and meaning of Ash Wednesday.” This was a group of maybe 15 or so who had been Christians I would think all their lives and some of them were a bit up in years. I expected they would know. They didn’t. One of the younger women, say in her 40’s, said, “I think it had something to do with Passover and the Jewish people putting ashes on their foreheads.”  I respectfully assured them, that as a Jewish believer myself, there is nothing in the Passover that would include ashes and it certainly isn’t in the Old Testament. 

Another person said, “I think it goes all the way back to the early church, with the Catholics and the Episcopalians that are like the Catholics. I just love when things go back close to when Jesus and his disciples made up the church.”  I did manage to hold my tongue and said nothing but I sure wanted to.  Neither  Yeshua nor His disciples ever had any knowledge at all, let alone had anything to do with, many of the practices of the early Catholic Church which had more to do with Rome than Israel. They wouldn’t have even understood the word “church.’ Another said, “I believe it has to do with the Jews burning the palm leaves they waved when Jesus came into Jerusalem, and they saved them and burned them the next year to put the ashes on their heads.”  Stunning, I thought, how earnestly we can hold to some religious rite and have no real idea what it’s supposed to represent or where it came from. 

This is not to belittle the genuine repentance that such an occasion might bring to sincere believers in earnest of being right with God. None of us can relate to God beyond what we know of Him. So if my comments seem a bit, well, unkind, it is certainly not toward the Jesus-seeking people, but rather comes not only from a longing for all who love the Lord to have all that He died to give us, but for Him to have all of us in the way He made available to us.   

I really hadn’t planned to go back to this group I had just met but the leader, a man wearing a wonderful colorful broad tie that said WWJD on it in various ways, asked if I would find out and come back the following week and teach them what the ashes represent and where it began. They knew nothing about me. Why did they even think I could do that?  Well, I could hardly resist an opportunity to do some ironing and spot leaning, could I?  So I began to check it out.

The brief story is that it is connected with Lent (that’s another story) and with repentance and being aware of one’s sins and feeling badly about them and presumably turning from them.  It is based on the Scripture verses in which certain Old Testament persons in deep grief or remorse for their sin threw dust and ashes upon their heads, often tearing their clothes at the same time. The ashes then represent sorrow for one’s sins. Ash Wednesday is supposed to accomplish that same effect, from what I read.  But when this took place among the Bible people, it is more that these spontaneous ash dousing actions were in the throes of great angst and emotional pain, likely with grasping a handful of 'dust' from the ground and dumping it on their heads, having nothing to do with a religious rite in which they went to some designated priest or bishop who drew a cross on their foreheads with ashes to make them feel better.  Or for that matter, as the ashes are supposedly to bring one in touch with their own sin, to make them feel even worse than they already did.

And one thing you can be sure about. If it would have happened, it sure wouldn’t have been a cross as a symbol of righteousness.  The cross was a symbol of great shame to the Hebrews. It wasn’t until several hundred years later under Constantine's influence that the cross became a symbol of adoration (another blog for another time perhaps).  The only thought that came to my mind was of the high priest burning incense on the altar (as in the picture above) but certainly there was no veneration of the ashes though they disposed of them in a specific manner.  

I did a fair amount of reading on Ash Wednesday and I found it significant that not once was the name of Jesus mentioned.  It was all about rules and rites and traditions and who is approved to do what to whom.  A good bit of it was about “blessing the ashes” which, as it turns out, were about keeping the palm leaves from one year's ceremony and then burned and those ashes used for the next year's ceremony. Those ashes were sort of sprinkled on the penitent’s head but later, especially in America, the practice of putting a cross on one’s forehead is preferred. It is neater, I’ll give you that. 

I do have a question about “blessing” the ashes, though. What does that mean? What does that do? How does that affect the persons’ life who receives the ashes? I thought we bless people, not things. Often the Jews bless God as a way of gratefully honoring Him. In the Old Testament objects were purified with blood or water, but not (and I could be wrong), blessed.  I’m not even sure what it means to bless ashes.  It’s a dead element, it has no life. It can’t do anything for anyone.  What’s to bless?

I suggest to you that it is left over from pagan practices that were to appease the gods of the Romans as one of those things that “the church” took on through Constantine’s edicts to unite the Christians with the others in the empire so peace would reign and the persecution would stop.  I know, I know, there’s much more to the story.  But the thing about those gods was that if you made them happy, the people would be happy and “blessed.” If they displeased the gods, well, you just didn’t want to do that because all bad things happened because you didn’t give them enough…. attention, worship, money, flowers, or whatever.  Worship of those pagan gods was about what you did to earn their favor so all would go well with you.

Not so with the God of the Hebrews. He was a Father and like every father, there were rules in the house but your obedience didn’t determine whether or not you remained the child of the Father.  No, this loving father was obeyed by his children because they loved him. It’s what children do. So also was the relationship between Israel and their God. He was as a Father to them and they obeyed Him because they were His children, not to get Him to accept them. He chose them!  He made them His own.  They knew that.  There is nowhere in the Old Testament that indicates that keeping the rules is what ‘buys’ you acceptance from God.  Rather, they were already fully accepted. They didn’t and still don’t keep the commandments in order to become or stay Jews, they already were and always would be. Witness the fact that there remains Jews of all flavors and types in the world today –but they all remain Jews, because it’s not about earning their way to God through some designated behaviors. They’re already His. 

The same thing applies to every true believer in Israel’s Messiah when they accept that He has already made the way for them to come into the family of Israel’s God. He becomes their Father just as He is Israel’s Father. And the same assurance of sonship can belong to anyone who truly turns away from their sin and accepts the forgiveness offered through Yeshua’s death on the cross on their behalf. The reason we stay caught up on repenting of anything we know God doesn't approve of is because we're already forgiven. Kind of like once you're clean, you want to stay that way. 

So where would ashes come into this?  King Solomon told us that “The reproofs for discipline are the way of life.”  In other words, repentance is an ongoing all-the-time thing when one is in relationship with Father God.  Anyone who is the Lord’s knows that part of our lives in God is being aware of when our thoughts or our deeds are not in keeping with the holiness of God and so we quickly, even immediately, turn to the Lord and thank Him for forgiving us and we are immediately cleansed of that transgression. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  That’s a verse we should all memorize. It comes in handy on a regular basis.

So if repentance is a way of life, like taking a bath or brushing your teeth in order to remain clean is a way of life, then what purpose would there be for a specific time once a year on a Wednesday to remember your sins by having someone put ashes on your forehead. If you need the ashes to get in contact with your sinful nature, then I suggest you need to turn your life over to God and be born again. You need to have His indwelling Spirit with you on a continual all-the-time basis.  He will welcome you in to the family so that you are no longer a rule keeping bystander, but a beloved child of God, if you simply begin to speak with God asking Him for His forgiveness for your life of sin and independence from Him.  

I will go back and meet with these dear folks again this weekend. I will attempt to gently tell them of this. Who knows what God will do with a little truth?  It does set us free.  Maybe it will “bless” someone enough to exchange the once a year ashes for the everyday sweetness of the Lord's purifying presence and love.  

GOD'S LOVE AS HE MEANT FOR US TO KNOW IT

When I've recently shared the meanings of several Hebrew words for love with some non-Jewish believers in Yeshua, it has changed something in their relationships with the Lord, bringing a security in Him they didn't quite have the same way before. It relieved for at least a few a nagging sense that felt like maybe God hadn't really wanted them but that somehow they'd snuck in the back door of the Kingdom when He wasn't looking.  

As I'm writing today I'm feeling this is important for someone in particular who will be reading this, though God's truth will always touch many hearts.  So take this as from the Lord if you sense He's speaking directly to you even if that's never happened to you before.  Whoever you are, He knows you, He knows your heart-pains, and He loves you.  Whenever it is that you read this, He's speaking to you! Maybe this actually applies to a number of you. But I felt I was to say this. 

Moving on, let's talk about what the love of God is really like from His perspective as the Hebrew reveals it.  I've crammed a whole lot of info into each paragraph so after reading it, you may want to go back and ponder each statement to absorb its wonderful truth about Him. Or read it slowly to take it all in.  Especially if some of this is new to you.

AHAVA (pronounced Ah-ha-VAH) has to do with being chosen by God.  It is indisputable that Israel is God's chose people. Therefore, anyone who also has been drawn to Him has also been chosen by God. It's how anyone comes to the Lord, He draws us to Himself. This is true for all who come to know God through Yeshua, Israel's Messiah. That's who He was in the beginning when up to a million Jewish people followed Him, and who He still is. The world may have made Him look like a Gentile since then and not a Jew but part of the restoration mentioned above is that His Jewishness is being restored and Israel is recognizing Him for Who He is.  Most of my family and I are part of that amazing historic event now taking place along with thousands of others. It's part of the sign of the times indicating His return is near. His love for His people Israel never changed. It's still there. But I digress......   

God's choosing is never about us deserving it.  He chose Israel not out of any merit of her own, but because she was the least of all people.  Look what He has done with a nation of powerless slaves! A nobody family from one childless nomadic man, who just believed God.  God needs no qualifications for Him to choose anyone. In fact, what we may think would commend us to Him, really gets in our way.  "Instead God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27). Doesn't that just eliminate any sense of trying to earn or keep His love or acceptance? It's all about His sovereign love for us, period. All we really have to do is accept it and enjoy it. Who doesn't want to be loved unconditionally, and especially by someone as entirely awesome as God?  

Who we are in our own eyes is not a factor in God's choosing of us.  Whether we may think we're somehow qualified or consider ourselves entirely unworthy of Him doesn't matter. He alone knows all there is to know about us, through and through, and yet He still chose us.  He is never surprised or unaware of anything in our lives and He loves us unconditionally despite them. What a relief!  We never have to worry about God changing His mind after saying to Himself, "Oh, I didn't know about THAT!"

He also knows how He can make us fully and completely His and someone to and in whom His goodness can be manifested to us and even through us. 
The Scriptures tell us correctly that "we love Him because He first loved us."  We respond to His choosing-love!!  There is no back door to the Kingdom of God that we could come in without His knowledge.  Yeshua is the only door and the only way in, and if You come to Him, it's because Abba chose you to give you to His Son as a love-gift. 

The best part is that whom God chooses, He never unchooses! And who finds Him, He never looses. Israel is certainly a picture of those truths in a myriad of examples.

CHESED (KHEH-sed) may be translated into English as something like lovingkindness.  That to me just makes it sound like God is nice. HE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN NICE!  This has to do with covenant keeping love. Whom He  chooses, He keeps!  These two aspects of His love are intertwined. Whom God chooses, He enters into covenant with, whether a person or a nation such as He has with Israel.  He's in it forever.  He's there, He's for us, He's protecting, providing, leading and guiding, He's right beside us, we're never without Him.  God is a forever keeping God. 

Yeshua initiated the New (really renewed) covenant with God so that when we turn our lives over to Him and accept His forgiveness for having lived independently from God, we find ourselves in an emotional rest such as we have not likely known before. It's all rather supernatural but in a very natural kind of way. Like peace.  He loves whom He has chosen and assumes responsibility for them.  Even regarding the day-to-day matters of life, He will help us with them if we invite Him into them.  God often reveals to us His supernatural love by at times making the most ordinary things examples of His thoughtfulness toward us. There are with Him many causes for delight!

Does that mean coming to Yeshua means being free of troubles. I wish it did. You may actually find you now have difficulties in your life you never had before, in particular when you find people in your life are not as happy about you becoming a Believer in Yeshua as you are.  Sometimes it's hard. I can tell you from experience, but I can also say that He will be  with you as "a very present help in trouble" and having His presence with you is worth anything it might cost you. Ask just about any true believer in Yeshua that you know and 
They'll all tell you that same thing.  

If you know Him that way, you know what I mean, and if you don't yet, ask Him to show you the practical ways He's been there for you, helping you when you didn't even realize it was Him, or know that He was there. Many of us who have come to the Lord can look back on our lives and realize that He's been there all along, helping you get through what life has challenged you with. God doesn't make the hard or bad things happen. He helps us overcome them and keep going.  You'll find yourself becoming aware of those things if you look for them.  All that is in His covenant commitment to you.

RAKHAMIM (rakh-ah-MEEM) means mercy but so much more than that one word. Mercy does not mean pity. Pity looks down on one in an unenviable position but does nothing to help.  Mercy on the other hand is all about helping. God's mercy always reaches out to lift the needing person out of what they are in so as to help change their situation for the better. It may take a series of merciful acts and some time but be assured, if we're His, where there is trouble, God's merciful love is at work to rescue. 

If you read through the New Testament, though it's everywhere in the Tenakh (O.T.) as well, you will see how Yeshua lived out a Rakhamim-filled life as His primary motivation.  Mercy is always linked with compassion and compassion, unlike pity, always moves to help change the person's situation and not leave them in need. I like to think of His mercy as the outworking of the Almighty in tenderness. it doesn't get any better than that.
                                                                                                     
I have tried to end this article a few times without saying this, but I keep feeling I need to let someone, perhaps more than one the person, know God really is speaking to you. I don't know who you are, but He does. Judging from the emphasis, perhaps you are Jewish.  This is an introduction to the Lord, not to just know these things about Him, but to enter into a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through His Messiah and Son, Yeshua.  He wants to make His love for Israel real to you. He knows your pains and He knows your losses, though you've done a good job of looking fine on the outside. He wants to make you whole. He stands with open arms to you as your Comforter King, and one who still has plans for your life in ways you've never imagined. Talk to Him.  Let Him talk to you. It's a good day to start a relationship with the Almighty.